This afternoon, I hitched a ride to the Farm with Roy and the kiddos. UT was taking on Texas A&M with a kick-off time of 2:30pm at Neyland Stadium. The consensus was that this weekend would be a good time for a visit to the homestead. From the outset, it was just going to be Roy and I hanging out with Dad and Janice as Chris was to be on a job, Josh and Levi had planned on camping and Jill possibly had work as well. In the end, plans fell through and everybody was home. There was one notable exception, Terry had to take one for the team and stay in Franklin to take care of his mom as we were unable to get a sitter for the day.
For our fun day at the Farm, Jax invited two of her friends to tag along, Willis who’s a friend of hers from BGA and Freya who attends Centennial with her. We piled into Roy’s 4Runner, Elijah in the very back in the 3rd row jump seat as he is the smallest and Jax and her two friends on the bench seat. It was gorgeous day for a drive with low hanging, woolly clouds pierced by fall sunlight with the cacophonous hum of teen chatter in the background. Glorious!
We arrived around 1pm with much excitement and unloaded the game day goodies. Roy brought fixings for clam dip, Rice Krispie treats per Elijah’s request and a cooler filled with icy, bottled Coca-Colas while I brought ham and cheese sliders to pop in the oven just like Grandmother Ginny used to make along with homemade tomato bisque soup and a jar of apple butter inspired by my memories of Grandmother Carrie’s preserves. Dad had slabs of ribs slow cooking in the oven that were fall of the bone, slap your mama, delicious.
I finally got to meet sweet Luna, the new addition to the critter family. She is a cutie pie and such a good puppy. The elder Jack seems to like her and I’m pretty sure Elijah fell in love as he spent a lot of time playing with both her and Jack.
Before we headed inside to check out the new pantry addition, Dad took us to the raised garden beds to see the mini-pumpkins they had grown. After the summer flowers were spent, they threw in some seeds and voilà, the cutest, itty bitty pumpkins. Everybody got to pick two pumpkins to take home. What fun!
Since Levi knows the lay of the land of the Farm, he was granted the task of showing the teens around. They all piled into the UTV and took off with Jack in tow spending most of the day exploring and collecting animal skulls and bones for their collections. Elijah hung close to the house playing with pups and exploring around the house.
As the the afternoon waned, the temperature outside dropped precipitously making Dad’s fire cozy and welcoming, perfect for huddling around the TV watching the Tennessee Volunteers stomp the Texas Aggies to victory 20 to 13.
It was an amazing afternoon and I can’t wait for the next time we get together.
Inside the new pantry. What an amazing addition. Countertop will be added next along with wrap around decking outside the door.
Dad sous cheffing alongside Elijah as he makes Rice Krispy treats.
Free range kiddos and Jack.
